The system features a 33-inch aperture, large enough to place a wheelchair inside. It can be rotated 90 degrees in either direction and the deck can be parked in any position, making it easier for patients to get on and off the 660-pound weight table. The FluoroSpeed X1 offers controls that are ergonomic for technologists, with duplicate controls on each side for either a left- or right-handed tech. The machine also has a large aperture to allow swallow studies.

The FluoroSpeed X1 comes equipped with a 17 x 17-inch dynamic digital X-ray detector (FPD) in the table bucky, allowing it to both be used for fluoroscopy as well as radiographic exams.

At this year’s RSNAITN sat down with Dennis Durmis, Senior Vice President, Bayer Radiology to discuss Radiology trends. Discussion topics centered around three key areas where Bayer Radiology is responding to trends; including digitalization, workflow efficiencies and efforts to bring more focus to the Radiology patient experience. During the interview Dennis discussed Bayer’s digital strategy, features and benefits of their new injector, the MEDRAD®Stellant FLEX Injector and Bayer’s education efforts of the imaging needs of women with Dense Breast.

Interview with Geoffrey Rose, M.D., president of Sanger Heart and Vascular Institute with Atrium Health, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a board member with the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE). He explains the impact if COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) on the cardiovascular service line and cardiac imaging. He said the virus has led to use of computed tomography (CT) not only as the frontline cardiovascular imaging modality to evaluate chest pain, but also for COVID-19 pneumonia imaging.

Rose said cardiac ultrasound is still used, but requires full personal protective equipment (PPE) and often abbreviated exams because of the close proximity of the sonographer and patient when performing echocardiograms. This has given rise to using dedicated point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) systems to answer specific clinical questions quickly. Smart-phone based POCUS systems that use an app and a transducer plugged into the phone enable basic echo exams or evaluation of other parts of the anatomy quickly without the need to immediately sterilize an entire cart-based ultrasound system. These small systems also can be completely enclosed inside a transducer sheath and the phone and single transducer are much easier and faster to wipe down. He said the quality of the exams are not as good as fully enabled echocardiography systems, but it allows for quick assessments of ejection fractions and to triage if the patient needs more advanced imaging if the basic questions cannot be answered.

Since hospitals have shut down now for about two months, postponing normal checkups, and elective exams and procedures, Rose said doctors still need to visit with patients who have chronic conditions. Sanger and Atrium Heath modified its ambulatory electronic medical record (EMR) and is using video conferencing to perform virtual appointments now for the majority of these patients. He said telemedicine was not widely used before COVID-19 in his hospital system, but the pandemic will likely alter the care model for the future, with more telemedicine visits being used even after epidemic is over. He said use of POCUS and CT as frontline cardiac imaging modalities will also likely remain in place after the pandemic because of the efficiencies in care these technologies offer.

Right now, Bloom said it is difficult to test everybody and there is a shortage of masks, gowns and other personal protective equipment (PPE), and the imaging equipment needs to be sanitized each time it is used. He said it is just is not possible to image all the patients who need imaging right now. Hospitals also are trying to limit the number of healthy people people coming into hospitals for routine visits and tests to reduce their potential exposure to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2) and help containment efforts.

"The tests should be done, very simply, if it changes the care of the patient. If it doesn't change the care of the patient, and it can be postponed, it should be postponed," Bloom explained. "I would say 80 percent of our cardiac imaging exams have stopped. It has been very dramatic."

United Imaging began working on new solutions for the U.S. after getting requests from its customers and seeing the needs in China and Europe. The company is collaborating with different vendors, including Sea Box and AMST to build both semi-truck trailer CT scanning rooms and those built into customized shipping containers. Other vendors are helping with infection control, ventilation, and easier cleaning/disinfection to help protect healthcare workers and patients.

The first transportable CT scanner was installed at the request of Maimonides Medical Center, the largest hospital in Brooklyn, New York, on the front lines of the current crisis. As the hospital scales its operations to meet the needs of an expected influx of coronavirus patients, doubling its capacity to 1,400 beds, United Imaging’s scanner will help expand its capacity for imaging studies to support diagnosis and treatment.

At this year’s RSNAITN sat down with Dennis Durmis, Senior Vice President, Bayer Radiology to discuss Radiology trends. Discussion topics centered around three key areas where Bayer Radiology is responding to trends; including digitalization, workflow efficiencies and efforts to bring more focus to the Radiology patient experience. During the interview Dennis discussed Bayer’s digital strategy, features and benefits of their new injector, the MEDRAD®Stellant FLEX Injector and Bayer’s education efforts of the imaging needs of women with Dense Breast.

At RSNA19, Philips discussed with ITN Contributing Editor Greg Freiherr how its IntelliSpace Enterprise Edition fits into the Philips portfolio, and how the corporate acquisition of Carestream Health IT might affect the company. The video also discusses how Philips will help prospective customers acquire its products.

At this year’s RSNAITN sat down with Dennis Durmis, Senior Vice President, Bayer Radiology to discuss Radiology trends. Discussion topics centered around three key areas where Bayer Radiology is responding to trends; including digitalization, workflow efficiencies and efforts to bring more focus to the Radiology patient experience. During the interview Dennis discussed Bayer’s digital strategy, features and benefits of their new injector, the MEDRAD®Stellant FLEX Injector and Bayer’s education efforts of the imaging needs of women with Dense Breast.

Jilan Liu, M.D., MHA, CEO for the HIMSS Greater China, explains how health information technology (HIT) was leveraged in China to help fight the outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2). Her discussion includes use of artificial intelligence, telemedicine to reduce contact between people, using the electronic medical record to help record and track people COVID-19 patients had contact with, apps, internet hospitals, and how 5G networks helped speed up IT systems.

She was previously principal and consulting director of the Greater China Joint Commission International (JCI). As chief executive for HIMSS Greater China, Liu and her team made a significant breakthroughs with hospitals and the HIT industry in the greater China region to embrace international HIT standards, certification requirements and to rethink prudent approaches to IT investments and operations.

At this year’s RSNAITN sat down with Dennis Durmis, Senior Vice President, Bayer Radiology to discuss Radiology trends. Discussion topics centered around three key areas where Bayer Radiology is responding to trends; including digitalization, workflow efficiencies and efforts to bring more focus to the Radiology patient experience. During the interview Dennis discussed Bayer’s digital strategy, features and benefits of their new injector, the MEDRAD®Stellant FLEX Injector and Bayer’s education efforts of the imaging needs of women with Dense Breast.

Modus QA is proud to offer a superior phantom for quantifying geometric distortion in modern MRgRT applications. Watch this video to discover how the entire QA process including set-up and data analysis can be completed in under 10 minutes.

David Sjostrom, Ph.D., deputy chief physicist, Herlev Hospital, Department of Oncology, Division of Radiotherapy, Herlev, Denmark, shares the first clinical experience treating cancer patients with the Varian Ethos radiation therapy system. He spoke to ITN at ASTRO 2019, where he presented information on the first 5 patients in the world being treated with this new technology. It uses artificial intelligence to take the onboard cone beam CT scans to automatically create an adaptive plan for any changes in patient weight loss, bladder volume, or change in tumor size. The plan can be available in minutes while the patient is on the table. It enables sparing of more healthy tissue and makes adaptive therapy much easier to use.

At this year’s RSNAITN sat down with Dennis Durmis, Senior Vice President, Bayer Radiology to discuss Radiology trends. Discussion topics centered around three key areas where Bayer Radiology is responding to trends; including digitalization, workflow efficiencies and efforts to bring more focus to the Radiology patient experience. During the interview Dennis discussed Bayer’s digital strategy, features and benefits of their new injector, the MEDRAD®Stellant FLEX Injector and Bayer’s education efforts of the imaging needs of women with Dense Breast.

Interview with Geoffrey Rose, M.D., president of Sanger Heart and Vascular Institute with Atrium Health, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a board member with the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE). He explains the impact if COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) on the cardiovascular service line and cardiac imaging. He said the virus has led to use of computed tomography (CT) not only as the frontline cardiovascular imaging modality to evaluate chest pain, but also for COVID-19 pneumonia imaging.

Rose said cardiac ultrasound is still used, but requires full personal protective equipment (PPE) and often abbreviated exams because of the close proximity of the sonographer and patient when performing echocardiograms. This has given rise to using dedicated point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) systems to answer specific clinical questions quickly. Smart-phone based POCUS systems that use an app and a transducer plugged into the phone enable basic echo exams or evaluation of other parts of the anatomy quickly without the need to immediately sterilize an entire cart-based ultrasound system. These small systems also can be completely enclosed inside a transducer sheath and the phone and single transducer are much easier and faster to wipe down. He said the quality of the exams are not as good as fully enabled echocardiography systems, but it allows for quick assessments of ejection fractions and to triage if the patient needs more advanced imaging if the basic questions cannot be answered.

Since hospitals have shut down now for about two months, postponing normal checkups, and elective exams and procedures, Rose said doctors still need to visit with patients who have chronic conditions. Sanger and Atrium Heath modified its ambulatory electronic medical record (EMR) and is using video conferencing to perform virtual appointments now for the majority of these patients. He said telemedicine was not widely used before COVID-19 in his hospital system, but the pandemic will likely alter the care model for the future, with more telemedicine visits being used even after epidemic is over. He said use of POCUS and CT as frontline cardiac imaging modalities will also likely remain in place after the pandemic because of the efficiencies in care these technologies offer.

Right now, Bloom said it is difficult to test everybody and there is a shortage of masks, gowns and other personal protective equipment (PPE), and the imaging equipment needs to be sanitized each time it is used. He said it is just is not possible to image all the patients who need imaging right now. Hospitals also are trying to limit the number of healthy people people coming into hospitals for routine visits and tests to reduce their potential exposure to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2) and help containment efforts.

"The tests should be done, very simply, if it changes the care of the patient. If it doesn't change the care of the patient, and it can be postponed, it should be postponed," Bloom explained. "I would say 80 percent of our cardiac imaging exams have stopped. It has been very dramatic."

United Imaging began working on new solutions for the U.S. after getting requests from its customers and seeing the needs in China and Europe. The company is collaborating with different vendors, including Sea Box and AMST to build both semi-truck trailer CT scanning rooms and those built into customized shipping containers. Other vendors are helping with infection control, ventilation, and easier cleaning/disinfection to help protect healthcare workers and patients.

The first transportable CT scanner was installed at the request of Maimonides Medical Center, the largest hospital in Brooklyn, New York, on the front lines of the current crisis. As the hospital scales its operations to meet the needs of an expected influx of coronavirus patients, doubling its capacity to 1,400 beds, United Imaging’s scanner will help expand its capacity for imaging studies to support diagnosis and treatment.

Right now, Bloom said it is difficult to test everybody and there is a shortage of masks, gowns and other personal protective equipment (PPE), and the imaging equipment needs to be sanitized each time it is used. He said it is just is not possible to image all the patients who need imaging right now. Hospitals also are trying to limit the number of healthy people people coming into hospitals for routine visits and tests to reduce their potential exposure to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2) and help containment efforts.

"The tests should be done, very simply, if it changes the care of the patient. If it doesn't change the care of the patient, and it can be postponed, it should be postponed," Bloom explained. "I would say 80 percent of our cardiac imaging exams have stopped. It has been very dramatic."

Skali elaborates on the following points in his discussion, which are specific recommendations in the ASNC and SNMMI COVID-19 guidance document:
• Rescheduling non-urgent visits
• Rescheduling elective surgeries and procedures
• Using separate spaces for patients with known or suspected COVID-19 to prevent spread
• Ensuring supplies are available
• Promoting use of telehealth
• Screen staff, patients and visitors before they enter the department
• Minimize non-essential visitors into the department
• Record symptoms at the start of the shift
• Use personal protective equipment (PPE)for healthcare personnel
• If available, use PPE for patients due to concern of asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19
• Maintain strict hand hygiene
• Maintain 6 feet distance in all patient/staff interactions when possible
• Work remotely whenever feasible, especially with ready studies
• Rotating staff schedules for on-site and off-site work
• Use of rest only studies if possible
• Use of half-time SPECT to speed exam times
• Use of PET if available to speed exam times

Druz spoke on the unprecedented expansion of telemedicine in the U.S. under COVID-19, seeing more use in the last two months, as opposed to the past two decades. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) previously only reimbursed for Telehealth in rural areas it determined had a shortage of doctors. However, in early March 2020, CMS dropped the geographic requirements and allowed Telehealth usage across th country as a way to mitigate person-to-person contact and keep vulnerable, older patients at home for routine check ups with doctors.

Druz has subspecialty certifications in nuclear cardiology, adult echocardiography and cardiac computed tomography (CT) and explains how Telehealth can be used to pre-screen patients and get patient sign off on procedures prior to coming in for an exam, helping speed the process in the hospital and limit personal contact.

Concerns about the rpaid spread of COVID-19 also has driven many radiology departments to convert to wider use of teleradiology to allow more radiologists to work from home and reduce person-to-person contact within the hospitals.

Druz spoke on the unprecedented expansion of telemedicine in the U.S. under COVID-19, seeing more use in the last two months, as opposed to the past two decades. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) previously only reimbursed for Telehealth in rural areas it determined had a shortage of doctors. However, in early March 2020, CMS dropped the geographic requirements and allowed Telehealth usage across th country as a way to mitigate person-to-person contact and keep vulnerable, older patients at home for routine check ups with doctors.

Druz has subspecialty certifications in nuclear cardiology, adult echocardiography and cardiac computed tomography (CT) and explains how Telehealth can be used to pre-screen patients and get patient sign off on procedures prior to coming in for an exam, helping speed the process in the hospital and limit personal contact.

Concerns about the rpaid spread of COVID-19 also has driven many radiology departments to convert to wider use of teleradiology to allow more radiologists to work from home and reduce person-to-person contact within the hospitals.

The rapid spread of coronavirus has increased the value telemedicine solutions to help prevent person-to-person contact and take some clinicians out of the hospitals to work at home or office locations. This includes the use of teleradiology tools to read images and communicate with referring physicians.

Telemedicine allows for the continuity of care within healthcare facilities and patients and allows for safe distance without sacrificing the quality of care. It also saves patients from spreading germs to others, like while on public transportation or in the doctor’s waiting room, and to the healthcare providers who tend to them. Televisits also only last an average of 10 minutes, allowing physicians to assess patients more quickly and easily.

Jilan Liu, M.D., MHA, CEO for the HIMSS Greater China, explains how health information technology (HIT) was leveraged in China to help fight the outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2). Her discussion includes use of artificial intelligence, telemedicine to reduce contact between people, using the electronic medical record to help record and track people COVID-19 patients had contact with, apps, internet hospitals, and how 5G networks helped speed up IT systems.

She was previously principal and consulting director of the Greater China Joint Commission International (JCI). As chief executive for HIMSS Greater China, Liu and her team made a significant breakthroughs with hospitals and the HIT industry in the greater China region to embrace international HIT standards, certification requirements and to rethink prudent approaches to IT investments and operations.

At RSNA19, Philips discussed with ITN Contributing Editor Greg Freiherr how its IntelliSpace Enterprise Edition fits into the Philips portfolio, and how the corporate acquisition of Carestream Health IT might affect the company. The video also discusses how Philips will help prospective customers acquire its products.

ProFound AI is an FDA-cleared artificial intelligence (AI) system for reading 3-D breast tomosynthesis images. At RSNA19, ITN Contributing Editor Greg Freiherr spoke with iCad Chairman and CEO Michael Klein about the system, which has been clinically proven in a large reader study to produce an 8% average improvement in sensitivity, 7.2% average reduction in recall rate and 52.7% reduction in average radiologist reading time.

In this video, Izawa announces the latest imaging advancements available for the Aspire Cristalle digital mammography system with digital breast tomosynthesis, including S-View, a synthesized 2-D image reconstructed from DBT and other patient enhancements such as the comfort paddle to provide a noticeably more comfortable exam for the patient.

She specializes in cardiac and pulmonary imaging, and has particular expertise in using CT and MRI techniques in cardiovascular imaging and the differences of presentation in imaging between male and female cardiac patients. Ordovas is helping advance education around heart disease in women and bring great awareness of quality tools to diagnose heart disease and how heart MRI can help. She also is heavily involved in the use of heart MRIs for pregnant women, since there is no radiation, and patients with congenital heart disease where detailed imaging of the complex anatomy is required.

The use of cardiac MRI in congenital heart disease is common in serial imaging of patients with Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), one of the most common congenital heart diseases for which patients are referred for post-operative magnetic resonance (MR) imaging evaluation. In the past few decades, surgery has proved successful, but most patients require repeat imaging throughout their lives and MRI can offer more detailed soft tissue imaging without the use of radiation.